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Sunday, November 17, 2013

I got my Playstation 4 the other day and it was just a little over seven years ago that the Playstation 3 came out. At the time I was a junior in college and had snagged a reservation by camping out in front of my local Gamestop with about 5 or 6 other people, including two of my college suitemates. It was a fun experience but definitely not something I plan on doing again, especially since I did the same for the Wii two days later. I had a lot of trouble staying awake the day after camping out for the Wii.

Thinking back on who/where I was at that time and all that's happened since then has been really interesting. It's easy for me to think of the PS3 launch as having been "not long ago" but when I think of everything that's happened it starts to seem more like "really long ago". I've graduated twice, had 5/6 different jobs, lived in 7 different places, gotten married, moved across the country, been to Blizzcon 3 times, and so much more. Seven years ago I had never played WoW, my parents were still thinking they'd retire to the retire to the country, and I'd never had a cat. And despite being "liberal", I was completely ignorant about social justice issues (which I hear is pretty typical).

This is all probably not surprising since it was over 25% of my life ago, but it's really easy to forget how much can happen in a period of time that seems so short.

It's kind of weird to only be thinking about this because a new video game console came out but I think it totally makes sense. As a gamer, these consoles and the experiences I have on them are not only significant to me but they also form the background of my life experiences. When I think about a game or a console I don't just remember the things that happened in the game but also the who and where I was and the what was happening in my life at the time I was playing. For example if I think about Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy X I think about talking with my friend in the high school parking lot. If I think about Metal Gear Solid 4 or Mega Man 9 I remember living in my parent's house after college and in the first couple months on grad school. Journey wan't just a fantastic gaming experience but I also remember having the front door open to the house we were renting at the time and waiting for Sarah to get home from work. With an MMO it's possible to have distinct attachments to expansions because of the real life experiences that were happening during each of them.

I think this is why we can get nostalgic for old games even if they aren't good, even if newer games in that series are "better". By starting up that game and playing it you can transport yourself back in time to when you were first playing it. Sonic games will always be tied to when my brother and I shared a room when we were very young, before he moved out into his own room and we began to drift apart. SSX reminds me of the Christmas when we had an ice storm in Arkansas and we had to stay with a family friend until the power came back.

It's said that smell is the sense that has the strongest tie to memory. Have you ever smelled a food and just been transported back to some great childhood memory of eating something tasty? Perhaps this is because smell is often used to identify things that might be poisonous or otherwise bad for us if we were to try and eat them. But wouldn't it make sense that action has a stronger tie to memory. Playing an old game can not only be fun but it has the ability to take you back in time.

This console launch has me remembering who I was in college, and thinking about everything that's happened in the interim. Much has happened and I've really grown a lot as a person in the mean time. I've met a lot of people and done a lot of great things. A console cycle can sometimes feel short, but a lot can actually happened. I can't help but wonder what's going to happen between now and the next generation of consoles.